Writers Aloud: The RLF Podcast

Andrew Greig speaks with Doug Johnstone about 60s music as his gateway to poetry, his accidental success as a poet while failing to becoming a musician, how a poem got him a place on Himalayan climbing expeditions and the value he places on triggering emotion in his readers.

RLF writers share the tips they’ve found most useful in helping them to hone their craft, from advice on subject matter choice and picking writing companions to the tricky business of how to end lines well in poems.

Penny Boxall speaks with John Greening about poetry as ‘igniting little moments of history’, poetic inspiration as a gap that you feel yourself into, goers and duds, her move into other genres such as children’s historical fiction and her advice for young writers.

Lucy Flannery confesses to an out-of-control obsession with stationery, explaining that every notebook and index card has a role in her creative process and reminding us that nothing is ever really thrown away when you’re a writer. Alexandra Benedict considers the many different modes of sensory perception (including her own intriguing experience of synaesthesia), and explores how the senses can make their way into writing.